


Free fall

by Yohao88



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 08:24:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20721167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yohao88/pseuds/Yohao88
Summary: Haru has disappeared somewhere during a festival. Rin finding him will lead to an unexpected turn of events.





	Free fall

“YES!!”

A smug grin and a fist in the air, Rin put down the rifle that had just helped him to beat not only his record, but also Nagisa. The boy was now blowing his cheeks disappointed for having lost his chance to win a giant Iwatobi-chan Crab Festival Special Edition plush toy at his favourite shooting game.

“It’s not fair! It had to be mine for the fifth year in a row!”

“You have way too many already!” Rei pointed out, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

“Haha! You can have it, if you want.” Rin came back with the big prize in his arms and his offer made Nagisa’s eyes shine in delight.

“For real?!”

“Yeah! I wanted to play just to improve my score.”

“What a punk...” Sousuke commented, crossed arms behind them, making Rin stare daggers into him.

“Waaah! Then I gladly accept!” Nagisa hugged the fluffy bird with a big smile, looking then at Rin a bit hesitant. “Are you sure you don’t want to give it to Haru-chan?”

“W-why should I?” Rin backed down, perplexed by that question. He couldn’t deny Haru would have been more than happy to own such a... creature and, thinking about the sparkly-eyed face he would have made in front of such a gift, his heart jumped a little. Between him and Nagisa, he couldn’t say who liked the weirdest things, seriously.

“I will challenge him directly next time,” he stated, rolling up the sleeve of his yukata, that slid down into place while he was playing. “I wanted to do it today, but that idiot had to go to the bathroom.”

That said, he looked around. Now that he thought about it, his friend was definitely taking his time.

“Where’s Haru?” he asked, instinctively turning towards Makoto, who shrugged.

“I have no clue.”

“Ugh,” he grumbled. “I’ll look for him. You guys can look for Momo, since we are at it.”

Their friend was determined to win that silly crab game he and Haru took part to a couple years before, he dragged Ai with him and they hadn’t come back yet as well. He had to babysit too many of his friends, really.

Running towards the closest toilet available, he looked around, in search of a blue-something yukata, though, honestly, the only yukata you could easily spot was Nagisa’s one. There were so many people that finding Haru quickly was impossible. As always, he had no phone, so even calling him was useless.

He ran in circles for about fifteen minutes, then, out of ideas, he took another route, to a less crowded area. Haru wasn’t a big fan of people and chaos. There was a chance he decided to slip away and have his own festival.

“Where’s that idiot?” he panted, bending on his knees to take a breath. There was absolutely nothing where he was now. It was a little terrace facing the beach and the ocean, with only trees and very few lights, but he decided to try anyway.

He was about to go back, when he saw a shadow further away. Worth checking.

He walked there in silence, both because he was still out of breath and because he didn’t want to scare a possible stranger.

The dim light of the few lamps nearby, however, was enough to confirm that was no stranger. Standing on a low wall a few steps away, his blue yukata flowing in the light wind, Haru was there, facing the sea with his arms wide open and his eyes closed.

Rin was about to call him, but something just made him stop and stare at him. That was... a peculiar sight. Weirdly... calming.

Haru’s hair were gently sliding up his forehead, moved by the sea breeze, and it really looked like he was determined to breathe in as much sea as he could, since he couldn’t go swimming right now. Who knew if that was what Haru was actually thinking.

The thought would have made Rin giggle, if it wasn’t for a stronger gust of wind that suddenly made Haru sway on the edge of that wall, a wall that Rin knew was there to protect people from a most probably severe fall on rocks and sand.

Without thinking twice, he jumped towards his friend.

“Haru, be careful!!”

His voice made Haru startle and turn to the point he fell for real. He fell, however, over Rin, who pulled his sleeve in the attempt to save him, the both of them landing on the grass with a pained lament.

“What the heck were you doing, anyway?” Rin grumbled, after they got up and sat on that wall again, this time together, their feet dangling down.

“The sea smells nice,” was Haru’s simple answer.

As expected.

Rin stared resigned at his friend. “And you left us there waiting for you just because you had to smell the sea?”

“Yes?”

“You live in front of it!”

“This evening it was different.”

Rin just snorted. He couldn’t say he was surprised. He hardly thought that was strange, knowing Haru.

“I was waiting for you at the shooting game, but in the end I played against Nagisa.” He maliciously grinned. “And I’m sad to tell you I gave him that special Iwatobi-chan, since you weren’t there.”

At those words, Haru actually looked disappointed.

“W-was it the last one?”

“It was.”

“I-Iwatobi... chan...”

The profoundly disconcerted way his friend was now looking at his own legs made Rin chuckle.

“If you beg me, I _might_ try to convince Nagisa to let Iwatobi-chan be the prize in case you win your next race against me.”

Haru pouted irritated, but it was clear he was also more than very tempted to accept that offer and his face made Rin laugh.

“Oi!” he protested, snorting and looking away, embarrassed.

Rin smiled of his reaction, turning then towards the sea waves gently sliding onto the beach. “You really like the water a lot, don’t you?”

“So what?”

“Nothing,” Rin shrugged. “It’s just--”

That time he found a magazine about water under Haru’s bed suddenly popped into his mind. For that and that hilarious night, he wheezed in the attempt not to burst out laughing all over again.

Haru, anyway, noticed and he hit him with his elbow, offended and red faced. “Oi, cut it!”

“Yes, yes!” Rin wiped his tears and sighed, gazing at the ocean again. The night was full of stars and even the moon was shining high, so you could see very well even if there were no lights from that point on. He had to admit that was definitely a peaceful view. He couldn’t blame Haru for liking it so much.

“I often thought about what you could be doing, while watching the sea like this.”

What Haru just said, made Rin turn and blink.

Haru wasn’t looking at him.

“I used to think you had to be looking at the same view, or at least a similar one, in Australia. The water is the same in the whole world, after all.”

Rin scratched his head, a bit uncomfortable, not really knowing what to say. “Well... that’s... an interesting thought.”

“So am I right?”

“Uh... maybe?” Rin felt his face warming up a little. He couldn’t deny that the ocean had always felt like a connection between him and the life he left in Japan, Haru included, but he could at least not admit it out loud. It was too embarrassing.

What was with Haru, that evening?

“My view was even better,” he boasted, chin up and a wide grin. Haru was creating a weird atmosphere. He didn’t like it. He had to get rid of it.

His comment, however, apparently failed to upset Haru, because he just smiled to him, going back to his ocean-gazing after.

“I can’t deny it. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“True enough.”

They went to Sydney together, after all.

“I thanked you for that trip, right?”

“Y-you definitely did.”

Rin observed him in silence. He was trying to think if they ate something weird for dinner, but he couldn’t recall anything out of ordinary. He had always liked when Haru was open about his feelings, as much as that made him feel... strange. It was like entering some sort of magical world. Was that what Haru felt every time he spoke nonsense about the water?

He wanted to talk back, but Haru’s weird mood dampened even his challenging attitude.

“It reminds me of you,” Haru suddenly said. “The water, I mean.”

Rin blinked again. What was Haru even saying now? He knew how fixated with water Haru was, so those words made him feel really... was uncomfortable the right adjective?

Haru wasn’t even looking at him, a faint smile on his lips, his eyes pointed somewhere between the ocean and the beach, then the beach only.

“I really like you, after all.”

Rin felt his heart stopping for a moment. Surprised, he experienced another funny jump in his chest when Haru gently smiled at him, standing up right after.

He could only stare at him, paralyzed by the words he had just heard. It... wasn’t very clear, but that “like” sounded too strange to be just... What was _that_?!

The sudden realization Haru was starting to walk back to where their friends were made him get up in a second. Jumping forward, he grabbed his friend’s sleeve another time.

“Wait! What did you just say--”

He got stopped by Haru’s expression, which he tried to hide turning away. He couldn’t see the colour of his cheeks, without light, but that was the face of someone who blushed enough to wish they could run somewhere.

Haru, who became conscious of what he actually said only after Rin ran after him, didn’t do much to get free of his catch, mumbling just a “Nothing, really,” while looking in the opposite direction.

Rin could feel his own face getting very red, especially after Haru did turn towards him.

“Ah--” He stuttered, caught off guard. “U-uhm... What did you...” He didn’t even know what to say. “D-did you mean... like... what?”

He was feeling really stupid, talking like that, but his brain wasn’t able to function very well, after what Haru put him through. Now he needed _that_ to be clear. It couldn’t really be what Haru said, right?

Haru turned to a side again. “Don't worry about it. It's... nothing.”

“THE HELL IT’S NOTHING!!” Rin shouted, blushing all over again.

They both remained in uncomfortable silence for a while.

Rin noticed he was still holding Haru’s clothes, so he let him go.

He waited for some kind of reaction from Haru, and also for his own heart to chill, because it was almost strangling him right now.

Even Haru sighed deeply.

They both needed to calm down a little.

After a few seconds, Haru just turned his back on him. “Anyway... really... don't mind it too much ok?”

“O-ok...” Rin replied, understanding Haru didn’t want to talk about that now. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to do that himself. What Haru said definitely seemed to be what he believed he meant. There was a tremendously romantic mood all over the place since the moment he got there. Misunderstanding his words required a level of hopelessness he luckily did not have. He really didn’t know what to do with this new information Haru gave him, though.

“I-I...” he stuttered, hoping something else to say could come to his mind.

“If it bothers you...” Haru tentatively spoke. “Sorry. I... It just... slipped out.”

“Haru...”

Rin stared at him, impotent. Those words suddenly made that situation feel as real as it indeed was. Haru confessed to him. On a wonderful night after a festival. It was worthy of the most romantic love story, but in their case, it wasn’t a plot it was so easy to go by. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t even know what to think, but Haru now almost pained expression was crushing his heart. He did a very difficult thing, willingly or not. His heart was bare open in front of him, completely defenceless. He had to be the one protecting it, somehow.

“Y-you...” he started, taking then courage and stepping forward. “You are my best friend. I can't pass over such a thing and pretend it never happened.” He clenched his fists, staring determined at Haru, despite his cheeks still burning. “I... swear I'll think about it, ok?”

This time it was Haru’s turn to look at him and blink surprised. Or... perplexed, rather. “What?”

He knew Rin was a romantic, but being romantic and saying such a thing to him were two different matters. It was true they had never talked about things like that, but he had never thought or even got hints that suggested Rin might have even remotely liked men in the first place. Not that he thought that about himself either. He just found himself realizing he liked Rin a little too much. Not... men. Just Rin. He never even thought it was something... wrong or strange. He only felt like it wasn’t something he could tell Rin so easily without making him extremely uncomfortable. Which was what was happening now and probably the reason why he said what he said.

Raising an eyebrow, sincerely confused, he stared at Rin’s serious face. “How can you _think_ about such a--”

“Just let me think about it, ok?! Damn it!!” Rin blurted.

Haru bet he was so red he could explode, right now. His mouth still open in surprise, he quietly nodded, taking Rin as seriously as he wanted, and they finally walked back, towards their friends still waiting for them.

Explaining very vaguely where they went or what they did, they hardly ever spoke to each other for the rest of the evening.

Rin could only thank the fact Haru was avoiding him as much as he was doing with him, because his face wouldn’t stop turning impossibly red every time Haru even just vaguely seemed to turn towards him. His feelings were all over the place. He could have never imagined that your best friend confessing to you could be such a terrifying experience.

A terrifying experience _not_ bound to end very soon, apparently.

When he went back to the dorms, that night, he was glad he was done dealing with Haru for the day, but he somehow forgot how many times he was supposed to meet him during their ordinary life. Ai and Momo and at least half of his team pestering him for joint practice had never been so frustrating. They were never frustrating in the first place, cause he _wanted_ to practice with Haru’s team as much as them or even more.

Now, instead, Haru was a synonym for “panic”. He would end up blushing almost all the times he spoke to him and he was terrified by the chance someone could notice. He didn’t even care to pay attention to Sousuke, because he wasn’t willing to know if he noticed anything.

Right after that night, he was sure he would have been able to chat with Haru as he did before, despite knowing his feelings for him, but that just wasn’t the case. He promised him he would have “thought about it”. He was doing his best to _think about it_. Definitely a more difficult task than he expected.

Which also resulted in his brain being full of Haru all day, every day.

Even his grades dropped a little, because his thoughts frequently took a different route in class and he would often cut a bad figure.

That was pathetic.

God, Haru was even a guy! He wasn’t interested in guys! Or in... anyone really. He had never had a proper crush, had he? Anyway! What was the point of even thinking about it? He should have told him he was sorry, but he couldn’t be with him that way!

But there was nothing he could do about it. He cared about Haru, he honestly wanted to know what he was supposed to tell him. He didn’t want to... break his heart or something by turning him down immediately. But why did he promise him a reply in the first place? Was he being swept away now? Was it normal to feel like that when someone confesses to you?

Haru seemed to act as usual around him and he was jealous he couldn’t do the same. How could Haru act as if nothing happened? How... dared he?

Was he feeling left behind?

He didn’t know exactly.

Did he?

That was more and more ridiculous as days went by. He had to give him a reply.

He had to turn him down properly.

“... n.”

He had to put an end to all that.

“... in.”

He had to stop feeling like—

“_RIN!!_”

He violently jumped on his chair, suddenly realizing he had been staring at the blackboard with his mouth open, lost in his thoughts for... how long exactly? He couldn’t remember a thing about the last lesson. Which also ended, considering Sousuke was by his desk calling him and now looking at him with his brows furrowed and questioning.

“Are you ok?”

“Y-yeah...” Rin mumbled, feeling his face warm up a bit and looking away. “Maybe.”

Sousuke seemed to ignore his words for the moment.

“Let’s go. Ai and Momo are waiting for us outside.”

It was lunchtime, after all.

Rin didn’t even notice. He had to get out of that situation, even just to save his school career. It was true he was planning on going on swimming, but he was quite proud of being among the Samezuka top ten students. He could boast about it with Haru, to make him angry.

Yeah... Haru.

Next to Ai, Momo was staring at his team captain curiously. “I wonder what Rin-senpai is thinking .”

“He's been like this for weeks,” Ai added, waving his hand in front of a seemingly lost Rin, sitting on a bench with them all and sipping his coke while looking at something unclear in the distance. There was just the school wall in that direction and it wasn’t more interesting than usual.

“Do you know anything, Sousuke-senpai?” Momo asked, clearly amused by that whole situation.

Sousuke lightly snorted, scratching his head. “He told me absolutely nothing and I haven’t pried into it.”

“Mmmh ...” Ai brought a hand to his chin, thinking. Then he suddenly hit his palm with a fist, clearly struck by a good hypothesis. “Could it be that... _you are in love, Rin-senpai?!_”

Those words instantly made Rin get out of his trance and he spit all the coke he was drinking, scaring the hell out of his friends.

“WHAT?!!!!” he screamed, his face suddenly fighting his hair colour for supremacy. “There's no way I'm in love!!” That said, he stood up, crumpling the coke can in his hand and taking a few steps. “There's no way I'm...”

He stopped for a moment, looking down, then he walked away in a rush.

His friends stared at him, exchanging a perplexed look, and since he almost seemed to be on the verge of tears, Sousuke decided to run after him. He definitely looked like a romantic teen in love, after all.

He followed him to the isolated porch he ran to, grabbing his shoulder once he was within reach. “Oi...”

“Go away,” Rin blurted, shaking him off without turning towards him.

Sousuke let him be for a while, studying him from head to toe, quietly sipping his own coke.

“So...” he began, with nonchalance. “Who's the lucky girl?”

Rin glared at him, his teeth gritted and his face completely red, but he said nothing for a while.

Sousuke just stared at him. He wasn’t that surprised about that bull’s-eye, though it was the first time Rin having a crush on someone was a proven fact. He joked a lot about him having a crush on Haru, but he wasn’t—

“Haru.”

Hearing that, Sousuke almost spit his drink as well. “UH?!”

Rin looked at him, a strangely very shocked expression on his face. “I think I might be in love with Haru.”

Sousuke blinked twice, dumbfounded by that... apparently sudden realization. “Uuuh... why?”

Rin backed down a little, blushing again. “What should _why_ mean?” Then he remained in silence for a few seconds, looking away again. “He... confessed to me... a while ago.”

His friend did his best to avoid overreacting again. “O-oh...” That _did_ make sense, after all. “So _that 's_ why you were acting weird lately.”

“Shut up.”

They both said nothing more. One of them had yet to digest what he had just told to his best friend, the other was still finding it all incredible enough.

“Are you... sure you are not just being overly romantic?” Sousuke tried. He knew who he was dealing with and, despite willing to believe what Rin said, he also wanted to be sure he was... well... sure about it. It wasn’t a swimming contest they were talking about here.

“I am,” Rin replied, however.

“ ’cause I know you are—“

“I've already tried to consider that! It just... hasn’t worked so far.”

Rin purposely admitting he had a thing for romantic stuff was enough to prove he was being serious.

Sousuke just looked at him. He had no clue about what he could tell him now.

“I'm going home,” Rin suddenly said.

“H-home?”

Rin ignored his more than confused friend, leaving him behind. He had to talk to Haru, right _now_. Taking a leave of absence, he ran to catch the first train he could get in, heading towards his place.

Haru greeted him with a considerably puzzled face when he opened the door. “W-what—“

“Hi,” Rin simply said, avoiding his gaze because his face was already red enough and just barging in, taking off his shoes as fast as he could. “I just... felt like passing by.”

“O-ok...” Haru mumbled, perplexed.

Seeing that Rin just went straight for his living room, sitting down, and not really knowing what to think of that sudden visit, he just headed to the kitchen to prepare some tea. Then he sat in front of his friend after he gave him his cup. Rin was still staring at his table, frowning, his hands firmly grabbing his crossed legs.

Not sure he was about to talk so soon, Haru carefully tried to speak. “Why did you--”

“Shut up!”

Haru blinked, more and more confused. “Shouldn't you be at school right n--”

“I said shut up!!”

In front of Rin’s red face now glaring at him, Haru just obeyed, waiting for him to talk. He was acting weird lately, that was for sure. It was probably his fault, but...

“I just... want to stay here for a while,” Rin finally said, timidly looking down.

“O-ok...”

Haru could feel his own cheeks burning a little more, after those words. That was strange. But he couldn’t say he didn’t like it.

They were now both staring at the table, in complete embarrassment. That was uncomfortable. But also very nice.

None of them talked for probably some minutes. The clock ticking was the only noise in the room.

Tired of spotting the other stealing glances once in a while, they ended up drinking their tea to break the ice a little. It kind of worked.

Feeling a bit more relaxed, Rin finally raised his head. “I...” He got interrupted by Haru startling. That made him blush once more, so he had to look away, because his heart was about to explode. “... thought about it.”

Haru widened his eyes, surprised. “Oh...” Noticing his friend’s red face, he blushed just as much. He didn’t expect... that. His brain was luckily refusing to wonder what Rin’s answer was going to be, because he was already uneasy enough.

Trying to find enough courage to go on, Rin raised his head to check, but Haru did so in the same moment, so they quickly glanced away turning even redder. He couldn’t make it. That was crazy. Why was he even there?!

“I should go back,” he just said, giving up and quickly heading to the door.

Haru stood up just as fast, instinctively following him and grabbing his shirt before he could reach his shoes. “Rin!” Realizing then what he did, he pulled back his hand. “Ah... sorry.”

“N-nevermind,” Rin mumbled, still giving him his back. He was still waiting for enough courage to get back to him, but... the hell... doing whatever he came there to do was a lot harder than he thought. Maybe it was better if he postponed. He tried at least.

“I... should really go,” he repeated, but without moving from there.

It just wasn’t fair.

He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that to Haru. Not again. He came there to finally give him a reply, but...

God, why was it so difficult?

He had to try.

He had to say something.

Anything.

“Y-you know...” he whispered, shaking. “I can't... stop thinking about you.”

“Uh?” At those words, Haru looked at him, astonished.

Rin clenched his fists and, without thinking further, he turned, rapidly pulling Haru’s head towards him, and he softly kissed his cheek.

For a moment, Haru thought his heart tried to cut a hole through his chest to reach Rin, but he missed the chance or the strength to indulge it.

Rin backed down, his face flustered and embarrassed, his eyes pointed at the floor. “See you,” he just said, before turning away and rushing to take his shoes, going out in a rush.

Haru stared at the door, his mouth still open in bewilderment, putting a hand on his cheek. He went out, just to observe Rin running down the stairs, probably in panic, ignoring even Makoto, who had just seen him and called his name. That scene and most of all what indeed had just happened made him smile sweetly.

They were so overwhelmed by feelings that speaking about them better than they did so far was something very hard to do indeed, but at least they were now sure things between them were bound to be pleasantly different, from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been on hold for ages, but it was the right type of romantic I needed lately, so here it is.  
As always, I hope you liked it! XD  
Thanks for reading!! ♥


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